A Punjab Police special investigation team (SIT), probing a 2021 drug case, has summoned senior Akali leader and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia and dismissed cop Jagdish Bhola to appear before it on October 5, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
The SIT may question both Majithia and Bhola face-to-face for the first time in the case. Majithia and Bhola are out on bail in the case. Bhola, a wrestler-turned-cop, was arrested by Punjab Police in November 2013 in connection with the drug racket. In 2014, Bhola had named Majithia in the drug racket, a charge vehemently denied by the senior Akali leader. Majithia has been booked for cognisable offences under Sections 25 (punishment for allowing premises, etc. to be used for commission of an offence), 27A (financing activities involving production, manufacture, possession, sale, purchase, transportation, use or consumption, import and export or dealing in any activities pertaining to narcotic drugs) and 29 (party to a criminal conspiracy to commit an offence) of the NDPS Act, according to the 49-page FIR registered at the State Crime Police Station in Mohali. On August 18, 2023, the Punjab Police had obtained a ‘Blue Corner’ Notice from Interpol against Satpreet Singh Thiara, also known as Satta, a Canada-based NRI, in connection with the ongoing 2021 drug case. Satta, originally a native of village Banga in Nawanshahr, was nominated as a co-accused in the NDPS Act case registered against Majithia in 2021.
The DIG Harcharan Bhullar-led SIT had claimed in a press conference that it had found suspicious transactions in firms linked to Majithia and his family. After the Mann government took over in 2022, it replaced AIG Balraj with IG Rahul S. as SIT head. In May 2023, IGP (Patiala Range) MS Chhina was made the SIT head and promoted to the rank of ADGP. In January 2024, the government set up another SIT under DIG Bhullar. Then IPS officer Varun Sharma took over as SIT head in March 2025.
